West Ham Utd 0, Liverpool 3THE EASE of this win was a tease. Here was a tantalising reminder that, if Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard had been spared injury this season, Liverpool might now have the destination of the Premier League title in their own hands.

Gerrard's brace at Upton Park means the pair have scored 16 goals from the 12 league starts they have made together in this campaign, but still this week they are reliant on others preventing Manchester United from taking the title. That rankles.

"It's all ifs and buts as to what might have happened if we had stayed fit," said Gerrard. "Without sounding big-headed there is a confidence when we are on the pitch that we can win football matches, so to not have him fit has been so frustrating. We work with each other in training and we enjoy playing together, we can both set each other up and both score goals. There is an understanding there between us.

"Though it's difficult watching Manchester United at the moment I will watch them on Wednesday," said Gerrard. "We want to win the league and, while it's still possible, I'm going to hope and keep my fingers crossed that United slip up."

Rafael Benitez will also be watching on Wednesday and, though he chuckled when asked whether he expects a side managed by Steve Bruce to defy Alex Ferguson, he said: "You have to have confidence that in the Premier League everyone can beat everyone."

Hope may eternally spring but many at Anfield cannot help lamenting the autumn and winter. Liverpool have lost fewer games than United this season but it is the excessive draws between September and January that may cost them the title. The ruthlessness with which they dismembered West Ham at Upton Park was absent when they dominated bluntly against the same team in December, that 0-0, along with identical scorelines against Stoke, Fulham and Aston Villa, fuelling current regrets.

Only in one of those matches could both Torres and Gerrard start. Benitez, in fairness, knows that no team has been immune to key casualties so does not dwell on that point, though that is possibly also because he knows he failed to extract the best from his intended back-up for Torres, the jilted Robbie Keane. Instead Benitez says the squad has grown with time and tutoring.

In recent months Yossi Benayoun, for example, has become more influential and against West Ham even the maligned Ryan Babel made an impact off the bench. Always armed with a handy fact, the manager noted with glee that the margin of victory at Upton Park meant Liverpool hit three goals in a sixth successive game for the first time in the club's history - and both Gerrard and Torres started in only one of those games.

"Sixteen players have scored for us this season," said Benitez. "I'm also very pleased about the 19 clean sheets we've now kept in the league. That means we have balance. A winning team has to score goals and not concede goals and we are now in this situation."

Even if it transpires that getting there has taken too long in terms of this season, Benitez believes that Liverpool, who are on course for their highest ever points tally from a 38-game season, have progressed handsomely and the club's craving for domestic dominion will soon be satisfied.

"It has been a good season," he said. "I think teams have seen we are genuine contenders. If you analyse the squad when I arrived, and that squad we have now, we have better players with a better mentality - a winning mentality. That is part of the process of changing something. Still we have to keep improving but at least we are going in the right direction."

Heading that way has entailed Benitez spending some €214 million on 34 players since taking charge but the Spaniard suggested he has still over-achieved because, he maintains, Liverpool remain the poor financial relation of the big four. "We want to keep improving but it will be difficult because of the power of Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal, the stadium and the money they can spend," Benitez said.

"People say 'Oh you also have spent some money' but we had to change a lot of players and still they are spending more money than us and have more money than us. It's something that needs time. At least we are now signing players and they are settled down now so we can keep adding players in the future."

Guardian Service